Eric Limer

So you got yourself an eReader. You've sworn off physical books for good. Who needs 'em? Well you can't build a gigantic pyramid library with eBooks now can you?

This mountain of books—called very plainly "Book Mountain"—is a project by MVRDV that just finished construction in the town of Spijkenisse in the Netherlands. The pyramid itself isn't books through and through. Instead, its insides consist of the commercial and community spaces that serve the surrounding 42 housing units, while the outside is adorned with all manner of tomes.

To keep the books (and their readers) safe from the elements, the whole structure is encased in a glass pyramid that relies on natural ventilation to keep it cool in the summer, and a combination of methods including floor heating to keep it warm in the winter. The hope is that Book Mountain will help rectify the surrounding community's 10 percent illiteracy rate. It definitely makes me want to go to the library, even if mine isn't nearly as awesome. [Atlantic Cities, Design Boom]